Every system on this site so far reads price against a fixed line, a range, or volume. This one reads price against its own recent spread: 20-period Bollinger Bands plotted around the candles, tightening when the stock calms down and widening when it doesn't. Charts below are interactive. Click Play on any setup and watch the signal bar fire, then the entry, stop, and target draw themselves, computed live from the actual candle.
“A band tag by itself is not a signal. Only the next bar's close, back inside the bands or beyond them, decides whether it's a reversion or a walk.”Jason Parker · Founder
A handful of terms show up again and again below. Click one to see what it means.
Wait for the signal bar to close, then buy if price on the next bar trades one tick above the signal bar's high. The close confirms the signal. It isn't your entry price.
Wait for the signal bar to close, then sell if price on the next bar trades one tick below the signal bar's low. The close confirms the signal. It isn't your entry price.
Same math as every other system on this site. The stop sits one tick past the far side of the signal bar. The target sits half that bar's range away from entry. The squeeze release breakout below runs a $0.30 signal bar, for an entry near $25.19, a stop near $25.51, and a target near $25.04. The bands themselves never enter that math directly. They only decide which of the four setups is even in play on a given bar.
Play with the numbers below. The default reflects the squeeze release breakout setup's own risk to reward.
≈70% is the honest break-even line once spread and slippage are priced in, not the raw number the math alone gives you. ≈80% is doing well. ≈90% is among the best scalpers running a system like this.
Four different jobs, same closing rule underneath all of them. A band walk bar closes at or beyond a band it's already been hugging, extending the same trend rather than reversing it. A squeeze release bar closes beyond a band right after the bands themselves pinched to their tightest recent spread. A band tag reversion bar closes back inside the bands the bar after a single pierce outside one. A midline reclaim bar closes away from the midline again after price tested it and failed to break through. All four still come down to the same close: near the bar's own high for a long, near its own low for a short.
One honest note before the setups. Bollinger Bands are built off the same 20 closes they're plotted against, so they describe where price has already been trading, not where it's headed next. A squeeze can sit for many bars before anything actually breaks, and a band tag can just as easily turn into a band walk instead of reverting. The bands narrow down which setup is on the table. They don't replace the signal bar's own close.
Each chart shows the setup forming, with the midline and both outer bands plotted underneath. Hit Play and the signal bar fires, then the entry, stop, and target draw in, computed the same way you'd compute them live, straight from the signal bar's own high, low, and close.
The pattern: price is already hugging one band, closing at or beyond it bar after bar instead of snapping back toward the midline.
Long: a green trend bar closes at or beyond the upper band, continuing a walk that's already in progress. Buy the close.
Short: mirror this to the downside: a red trend bar closes at or beyond the lower band, continuing an existing walk down. Sell the close.
The pattern: the bands pinch to their tightest recent spread over several bars, then a trend bar closes outside one of them as the bands start to widen again.
Short: after a visible squeeze, a red trend bar closes below the lower band. Sell the close.
Long: mirror this to the upside: after a visible squeeze, a green trend bar closes above the upper band. Buy the close.
The pattern: price pierces outside a band for the first time in a while, then the very next bar closes back inside the bands near its own high or low.
Long: a bar pierces below the lower band, then the next bar closes back above it near its own high. Buy the close.
Short: mirror this to the downside: a bar pierces above the upper band, then the next bar closes back below it near its own low. Sell the close.
The pattern: price pulls back to the midline during a trend, holds there instead of breaking through, then a trend bar resumes the original direction and closes away from the midline again.
Short: in a downtrend, price bounces up to the midline and holds, then a red bar resumes and closes near its low. Sell the close.
Long: mirror this to the upside: in an uptrend, price pulls back to the midline and holds, then a green bar resumes and closes near its high. Buy the close.
A tight squeeze is a warning to pay attention, not a trade by itself. Taking a position before the breakout bar actually closes, because the squeeze "has to" release soon, is how this system's edge disappears fastest. Run your own numbers in the position-size calculator, or head back to risk management for the account-level rules that sit underneath every system on this site.
Common questions about trading this specific system, answered straight.
It's a 3-minute SOXL system built around 20-period Bollinger Bands: four setups (band walk continuation, squeeze release breakout, band tag reversion, midline reclaim continuation) that all share the same entry, stop, and target math once a signal bar closes. Entry is one tick past that bar's own high or low, the stop is one tick past the far side, and the target is half the bar's range away.
No. A squeeze only shows that the bands have pinched in and volatility has dried up, not which direction the eventual move goes. Guessing the direction before the breakout bar closes is how this setup turns into a coin flip. Wait for the actual breakout bar to close beyond a band before treating it as a signal.
Opposite jobs on the same two bands. A band walk trades with the trend: price keeps closing at or beyond one band, bar after bar, and you stay with it instead of fading it. A band tag reversion trades against a single pierce: price tags outside a band once, then the next bar closes back inside, and you trade the snap back toward the midline. Same entry, stop, and target math either way, once the signal bar closes.
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